The present invention is directed to a patch panel and, more particularly, a high density patch panel for housing a total of 48 keystone style modular jacks in one EIA/TIA rack unit.
Keystone style modular jacks made in accordance with industry standards are well known in the telecommunications industry. Patch panel frames that support keystone style modular jacks in one rack space and that mount to any standard EIA/TIA rack are also known. For example, Hubbell's Premise Wiring UDX Series Jack Panels and Molex's 1U48 Port Power Cat 5e Patch Panel are 48-port panels having frames that mount to any standard EIA/TIA rack unit. However, prior art devices either fail to accommodate the industry standard keystone style modular jacks, or mount the modular jacks directly into the rear of the patch panel frame. One attempt at improving patch panel density can be seen in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/814,877, filed Mar. 31, 2004, entitled High Density Patch Panel, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. Accordingly, improvement in the art of maximizing patch panel density for keystone style modular jacks is desired.
It would be desirable to provide an improved patch panel for supporting 48 standard keystone style modular jacks in one EIA/TIA rack unit.
It would also be desirable to provide an improved patch panel having two rows, each row including a plurality of keystone style modular jacks mounted therein, with at least two keystone style modular jacks vertically aligned within the patch panel.
It would further be desirable to provide an improved patch panel with keystone style modular jacks mounted therein oriented such that the release lever of a plug mounted therein is operated in a vertical direction.
It would also be desirable to provide an improved patch panel with keystone style modular jacks mounted therein oriented such that the contacts of a twisted pair modular jack are facing down.